Isn’t This What We Fought The War For?

Virgin Airlines’ campaign to recolonize the Village gets stonewalled by Community Board 2:

British poet Rupert Brooke once designated a corner of a foreign field as “forever England,” but after a heated discussion last night, the traffic and transportation committee of Community Board 2 unanimously voted not to recommend co-naming a portion of Greenwich Avenue in the West Village “Little Britain.

The resolution will now go before the full board.

Sean Kavanagh-Dowsett, an owner of three British-themed businesses on Greenwich Avenue, including the restaurants Tea & Sympathy and A Salt & Battery, had made an impassioned case in favor of the naming. He said there is another British-style business on the block and still another likely coming. He also stressed the significant support from local businesses and residents. A stack of local letters, as well as an online petition of nearly 6,000 names in support (57% of which were from New York) was presented.

He also said naming the street Little Britain would draw business to the area, and help protect the charm of the neighborhood. “There’s a bit of an English feel to the neighborhood, Mr. Kavanagh-Dowsett, told The New York Sun.

But members of the committee expressed a few doubts. One committee member, Ian Dutton, pointed out that New York is already named for a part of Britain. Sean Sweeney, who is also on the committee, asked about the role of Virgin Atlantic Airways in the campaign to co-name the street. Mr. Kavanagh-Dowsett said he approached the airline, not vice versa, and that some of the plans for what has become the Virgin empire were first drawn up on a napkin at the White Horse Tavern on nearby Hudson Street.